De Jesus to successor: Continue ‘good governance’ culture at DoTC

De Jesus affirmed his loyalty to the President, saying that—the latter’s dip in ratings notwithstanding—the “best man” still won the 2010 elections. “Sometimes, we just don’t know what we have until after we lose it.”. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Outgoing Secretary Jose “Ping” de Jesus said on Monday the culture of transparency and good governance he espoused at the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) would be the only way to put an end to onerous government deals that defined the previous Arroyo administration.

De Jesus, who steps down on June 30, said he wanted to live quietly after a total of 25 years in government service, adding that he was thankful his resignation was accepted by President Benigno Aquino III.

“I don’t think the President expected me to resign, but I did not expect him to ask me to stay either,” De Jesus told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “Maybe it was because I was hoping that he would not stop me.’’

He has repeatedly denied reports that he was stepping down due to policy differences with the President. The media have linked his decision to resign to the expected return of Land Transportation Office (LTO) head Virginia Torres from a two-month leave.

De Jesus had recommended Torres’ suspension to clear the way for an investigation into her supposed role in an intra-corporate dispute at Stradcom Corp., the LTO’s information technology provider.

De Jesus affirmed his loyalty to the President, saying that—the latter’s dip in ratings notwithstanding—the “best man” still won the 2010 elections.

“Sometimes, we just don’t know what we have until after we lose it,” De Jesus said. “Imagine what we endured for nine years,” he said, referring to the presidency of now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

De Jesus earlier served as the secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways of the late President Corazon Aquino, Aquino’s mother. He also served as her Cabinet secretary. De Jesus’ resignation from the DoTC at the end of the month comes exactly a year after he assumed the post.

He said he was confident that the President would be able to find a competent replacement who would continue reforms implemented at the DoTC.

“The President has a good Cabinet with a lot of hardworking people. The President himself is hard-working and he pushes all of us to produce results,” De Jesus said.

Former Senator Mar Roxas, Aquino’s defeated running mate, has been reported as Malacañang’s first choice for the post.

“As long as we don’t have anyone who’s deliberately out to sign shady deals, then it will be fine,” he said.

De Jesus said he would spend his last three weeks at the department making a succession plan to ensure a smooth transition with his successor.

“The first thing we are doing is to complete all pending matters and accelerate other projects,” De Jesus said. He said he would prepare a status report of all pending projects to be given to the next DoTC head.

De Jesus said his main accomplishments in the DoTC included starting the bidding process for the combined operations contract for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) line 1 and Metro Rail Transit (MRT)—the first project under the administration’s public private partnership (PPP) scheme.

The contract to build the LRT line 1 extension to Cavite is also set to be bid out within the month. De Jesus said the Philippine National Railways (PNR) has scheduled the opening of the train service from Metro Manila to Naga City by the end of the month.

He said the DoTC has also set the review of all pending projects approved under the previous administration. While most of these projects were approved, several billion-peso deals would be renegotiated or cancelled, said De Jesus.

“We have identified many projects that needed to be corrected,” de Jesus said.

These include the controversial Greater Maritime Access (GMA) Ports and NorthRail projects, both of which have been found to be “highly onerous,” according to De Jesus.

“My policy in the DoTC has been to be transparent and promote a level playing field when bidding projects out. As long as that is maintained, we are safe,” De Jesus said.